Rich Fool
Scripture
Introduction
Have you ever played that board game Trivial Pursuit? That would be a good description of the way that a lot of people spend their lives today expending all of their energies in the pursuit of things that are in the end really trivial. Trivial because in the end all that will be left is that which is eternal.
It is amazing how many people will go and take out every insurance policy available. They will get life insurance, medical insurance, fire insurance, earthquake insurance, but the won’t give a single though to their eternal insurance if their life is really right with God.
Don’t Be Greedy To Accumulate Things Of No Eternal Value
When John D Rockefeller was the richest man in the world, someone asked him, “How much money was enough?” His reply was, “Just a little bit more.”
That is the perfect definition of the man or the woman that is filled with greed. In fact, Proverbs portrays greed as a dividing line between righteous and evil people. In Proverbs 21:26 it says, “All day long he craves for more, but the righteous gives without sparing.”
Covetousness is a tricky sin. We may pride ourselves on the fact that we are not committing certain sins like sexual immorality or impurity, but at the same time we may be constantly coveting things.
Understand what the Bible is saying. It is not a sin to be successful in business make a good living, but when you become obsessed with it, when you are willing to do whatever it takes to get there, when you find yourself bending every effort to grasp it, and it becomes the most important thing in life to you, then that pursuit has taken the place of God.
The Bible warns that covetousness is idolatry. That greedy desire to have more can actually become a God in your life and choke you out spiritually.
Don’t Think Only of Yourself And Neglect Others
This guy said in verse 18, “I want to build bigger barns to store all of my crops and goods.” Again, there is nothing wrong with the fact that he wanted to build bigger barns. In fact, it was a prudent move business wise to protect his investments. But the danger is in what was missing. There is no thought of God. No thought of the need of others. He just thought I am going to build bigger barns to house all of my stuff.
Jesus is not criticizing this man for the fact that he worked hard or that he saved for the future. His problem was he did not think about his spiritual future and he did not rise to the responsibilities that wealth can bring.
“If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. If you can attend a church service without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death, you are more blessed than 3 billion people in the world. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of the world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish somewhere, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.”
Don’t Be Rich Towards Yourself but be rich towards God vs 21
Kent Hughes in his commentary on the gospel of Luke wrote these words on this topic. “We can enlarge our savings and build huge accounts to hold it all. We can plan our retirement so we will have nothing to do but change positions in the sun. We can plan our menus for the twilight years so that nothing but the finest cuisine crosses our lips. We can live as if this is all of life. We can laugh our way to the grave only to discover in the end that we have nothing and are in God’s eyes fools.”
This was the problem with this guy. He didn’t plan for the future. He had a life of pointless ease like these dot.com millionaires.
Be a Good Steward
Remember that Jesus died so that you can become rich in him and as he gave his life for you, so you ought to live your life for others as well
Conclusion
It is still true today. You meet people and all they think about is the material. All they think about is the physical. All they think about is earthly pleasure. They never give a single thought to their soul or to eternity.
Do you have Jesus Christ living inside of you right now? Has He forgiven you of your sins? We have all sinned and broken God’s commandments. But God loved us so much that 2000 years ago He sent Jesus to die on the cross in our place and shed His blood for every sin we have ever committed. Jesus rose from the dead after He was crucified on that cross and now He stands at the door of every human heart and says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock and if you will hear my voice and open the door, I will come in.”
Have you asked Jesus Christ to come into your life? What if this were your last day on earth? Would you be ready to meet God? If not, I will give you an opportunity to meet Him today.
There might be some of us who have misplaced priorities. We are Christians, but we have made our career more important to us than God. We have made the pursuit of things more important to us than the kingdom of God. We have allowed other priorities to take His place in our lives. Some of us need to do a little readjusting. We need to do a realignment in our lives and make sure that we are seeking first the kingdom of God in all things. It can make the biggest difference.